SDMC to increase de-sealing fees for big businesses

The proposal will be presented before the SDMC standing committee on Tuesday, and if approved, it will be presented before the SDMC House.

Commercial establishments in south Delhi such as restaurants, coffee shops, banquet halls, health clubs sealed for violation of civic norms may have to shell out more money in order to get the government seal removed, officials of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) said.

For de-sealing of properties, owners have to comply with the rules under which the property was sealed. After this, an inspection is conducted by the municipal officials. (Burhaan Kinu/HT PHOTO)

The officials said the SDMC proposes to increase the charge for de-sealing from Rs 15,000 to Rs 50,000 in case of big businesses such as restaurants (seating capacity of 20 or more), coffee shops, banquet halls, health clubs, spa, etc. For smaller businesses such as fruit juice vendors, paan shops and barbers shops (up to 5 chairs), the charge will remain Rs 15,000, they said.

The proposal will be presented before the SDMC standing committee on Tuesday, and if approved, it will be presented before the SDMC House.

If approved, the hiked charges will apply only to the shops sealed by the corporation. The shops that were sealed by the SC-monitoring committee are de-sealed only on court orders.

Earlier, the SDMC had passed the proposal to levy a professional tax on self-employed persons — a first for Delhi — and doubled the tax on rented commercial property. The municipal body also announced hike in tax on transfer of property in new tax proposals aimed at ramping up revenue collection hit by the national lockdown to contain spread of coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

Leader of Opposition in the SDMC Prem Chauhan said that though they are in favour of revision of charges, it has to be done systematically and all bigger trades cannot be just charged Rs 50,000 for violations. “There are restauarants with 20 seats and those with over 50 seats, similarly there are banquet halls spread across much larger area that can house around 1000 guests and so the charges must be according to the floor area of an establishment and different slabs should be made for bringing in the policy.”

For de-sealing of properties, owners have to comply with the rules under which the property was sealed. After this, an inspection is conducted by the municipal officials. If they find that the owners has complied, he pays the de-sealing charges for reopening the property.

Ramesh Gupta, who runs a catering business in Lajpat Nagar, said hiking the charges will further hit businesses, which are already suffering on account of sealing and the loss of business due to the prolonged lockdown imposed in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic. “A hike in any kind of charges at this point is not in the public interest. Traders have already been hit hard because of low sales,” said Gupta.

Vijay Kheterpal, member, South Extension-1 market association, said that hiking charges at this point of time is not a good idea. “Eateries are the worst hit at this time and surviving only on takeaways. Anyways when a trader is adhering to the norms, only then a property is de-sealed then why make them pay extra charges,” he said.